October 29, 2006

Name:

Flanders

Age:

Twenty years old

Gender:

Male

Kind:

Percheron Horse

Home:

Cass County, Missouri, USA

This
wonderful Percheron of ours is named Flanders, and he is the horse
of the century. We found Flanders about six years ago, living in a dirt
lot with fifteen mules! We had been looking for a buggy horse or mule, and
when we went to the farm where we thought we would buy a mule, there,
shinning above all the mules, was this glorious Percheron! He was heads
taller than the tallest mule, and my heart literally skipped a beat when
I saw him. He is 18 1/2 hand tall, Amish-trained to pull a buggy, and
the sweetest, most gentle giant you could ever meet. We have learned
more from him than he has learned from us! We think he is around 20
years old now, and sweeter every year.

We live on a farm in Missouri, and we have two quarter horse mares and a
Belgian mare, and Flanders is definitely the herd stud! He runs any
stray animals out of the pasture, and he protects his mares with all his
heart. We have entered Flanders and our buggy in parades, and we used
him as a "wedding horse" for our farrier when he got married. (This
picture shows Flanders dressed for the wedding!) And he still loves
mules! When we are in the local parade, the only other animal he ever
nickers at or talks to is a mule! He is a hoot.

I tell my husband if a person is truly lucky, they will have a horse
like Flanders just once in their life. We have been that lucky.